I looked up the ingredients for Maggies cereal in Trader Joe's. This is pretty expensive cereal!!! Anyone have any suggestions?

hmmm...

I pay about $1.50 for 16 oz of wheat bran, $3.00 for Bob's flax meal, and $11.00 for the soy protein isolate (Fearn Brand is what I use).

That's $15.50 for about 34 servings - if you eat it 1/2 cup at a time. So that comes to about $.45 per serving. Flax-o-meal works out to be nearly $1.00 a serving. That's what inspired me to develop my own version.

Some of us eat less than a 1/2 cup serving, so it's even less.

I don't have a Trader Joe's anywhere within a hundred miles of here. What are they charging you for the ingredients?

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160 + lbs)
~ 50 lbs. of "water" gone forever! ~

~~Redhead until further notice! ~~

At the Wild Oats store I go to the wheat bran is .79 per pound in bulk. The soy protein isolate is 5.99 per #/bulk and the Bob's Red mill ground flax meal is 2.69 a pound. I'd say to shop around to get the best deal.

Deannie
270/236/125

It's the soy protein isolate that inflates the cost. But as Maggie points out it's a lot cheaper than ready made flax cereal. I make up the cereal and it lasts me for months. Think how many boxes of cheerios you would have gone through in that time.

Rob
310/228.5/180
Me, a skeptic? I trust you have proof.

...ahhh! I can't wait for some of these larger chains to get near Hooterville! The prices the small stores have to charge because they don't have volume buying power are fairly steep.

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160 + lbs)
~ 50 lbs. of "water" gone forever! ~

~~Redhead until further notice! ~~

I make my hot flax seed cereal from the flax seed, water, some SF flavored syrup and cream. See two versions of the recipe below.

I buy flax seeds at Trader Joes. I don't remember the price but it was under $2 a bag. I grind them for about 5 minutes in my food processor and save them in the freezer.

1/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 tbsp heavy cream
water to make 1/2 cup
splash of vanilla
squirt of Stevia liquid sweetner (or any heat resistant sugar free sweetner or flavored syrup).
Optional: Add some protein powder shake mix to your recipe with a little more water and it will make it a little creamier.
Also, add a little salt if needed.

If it's gelatinous, it's usually because it's been cooked more than one minute. I had a friend who complained and then worked with it and found out that she was cooking it for two minutes. When she only cooked it for one minute, it came out perfect. She described the overcooked version as "rubbery".

Variation 1
To avoid the slime factor,
? Put the cream and water into a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup and heat it in the microwave for less than 1 minute
? Toss over the flaxseed meal and give it a quick stir
? Cover the bowl with a saucer
? Toss a bit more cream and water into the cup and heat that up and add that to the bowl.
? Let sit for a minute
? If not warm enough, heat the bowl for 30 seconds.

I've been trying to keep the soy out of my diet, AND I couldn't find soy protein isolate at the store, so I just used whey powder instead. You can get a pound of that stuff for less than the SPI.

__________________
Back on the wagon! currently 150... 130, here I come!
5' 3", 25 years old
LCE journal

I make it with whey protein isolate and add a bit of oat bran to it -- reduces sliminess 100%